From the Middle Ages to the present day, billiards are legendary all over the world, it is sung in poetry and prose, in fine arts and in cinema. This game is written about in encyclopedias, the word "billiards" itself has firmly entered the dictionaries in many countries, and, surprisingly, it sounds almost equally beautiful in many languages ​​​​of the peoples of the world. Without exaggeration, one can say this about billiards: it is a wonderful noble game that worthily represents the cultural heritage of ancient civilizations in the 21st century.

The question of where and when they first started playing billiards remains open to this day. It is not unreasonable that Indochina is considered the birthplace of billiards, from where the game was delivered to Europe by Genoese merchants aroundXV in.
However, long before the appearance of "Chinese billiards" in Europe, in many countries there were already games that can be called the prototypes of billiards. For example, the Germans played Balkespiel, a game that used a wooden table with sides and stone balls, several of which had to be driven into the recesses of the table with a special club. In England, there was another version - Pall-Mallspill. The goal of this game was to hit the balls in special gates located on a hard-packed earthen platform.
The question of the origin of the word "billiards" remains controversial. According to the English researcher John Wilk, the original name of the game was "ball-yerds", composed of two words of the ancient Saxon language ("ball" - ball and "yerd" - stick). Proponents of another, French version of the origin of the word, point to the French roots of the name: "bille" - a ball, or "billart" - a wooden stick.
Billiards is rightly called the "game of kings". It was royal persons who for many centuries significantly influenced the development of the game, sometimes forbidding it (for example, the king of EnglandGeorgeII), and sometimes vice versa, they encouraged the development of billiards and interested subjects by personal example, such as PeterI, Napoleon Bonaparte and CharlesIX. Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots and a passionate lover of the game, even on the day of her own execution, in a letter to the Archbishop of Glasgow, she asked to keep her billiard table.
Vassals, trying to please their masters, imitated them in every possible way, incl. and in passion for billiards, and for some of them the game contributed to a career, such as Michel Chamillard, who served at the court of King Louis of FranceXIV. The enterprising courtier, who mastered the game to perfection and was known as the best player in the country, became the constant partner of the king. Shamilar periodically succumbed to Ludovik, and he, who had a complacent mood after winning, used to say that, not being a "billiards professor", he still had an excellent command of the cue. Subsequently, Shamilar was turned from a clerk into a controller of finances, and even later became the Minister of War of France. Around the same time in Lyon, the Frenchman Etienne Liazon publishes the first set of rules for playing billiards.

Billiards appeared in Russia during the reign of Peter the Great. For 300 years of development of this game in our country, it has become a significant phenomenon in the cultural and sports life of Russians. It can be said without exaggeration that it has recently supplanted many traditional games and rightfully occupies a worthy place in the sport and culture of our society. Billiards occupies a special place in Russian history.
According to available sources, being a member of the Russian embassy in Western Europe in 1697-1698, Peter I, studying the latest technologies in the military field, borrowed a lot from the public life of Europeans, including an entertaining game of billiards. It is also known that the sovereign not only himself did not learn to play this "overseas battle" well, but over time legalized its distribution in "people's meetings", issuing a special decree on "assemblies" in 1718. At these assemblies, as the historians of those times testify, the Russian emperor himself played recklessly and more than decently on the “biliart”. He played in the houses and palaces of St. Petersburg, as well as Moscow. In the famous Petrovsky Camping Journal of 1720, the following entry was preserved: “His Majesty was in the Admiralty shipyard at the ships, and was in the soapbox; ate at home and played chess and billiart.” It is curious that, at the behest of Peter I, billiard games were taught from childhood, along with other sciences and entertainment, by his son Alexei and his grandson, the future Emperor Peter.
In the first half of the 18th century, billiards became even more popular in Russia. During the reign of Anna Ioannovna and Elizabeth Petrovna, this game was widespread not only in private residences and palaces, but also in public places, in taverns and hotels, and later in officer meetings, noble and merchant clubs, and in landowners' estates. In 1750, Elizabeth was the first to legislate billiards in St. Petersburg and Kronstadt as one of the most important entertainments for visiting foreigners and "every rank of Russian people" in "herbergs and tavern houses." And Catherine II, by her decree, spread in 1780 the “pleasures of playing billiards” throughout all provincial cities and counties.

These traditions were continued by the following emperors of Russia - Paul I, who from the age of 10 was specially trained to play billiards, Alexander I, who had the best billiard room in Russia at that time in his palace, as well as other rulers of the Romanov dynasty. Nicholas II had a special fondness for billiards as an entertainment and sport, who, as can be seen from his surviving diary entries, almost daily held meetings and conversations with courtiers and military leaders at the billiard tables of the Winter Palace and Tsarskoye Selo. Affairs.

History shows that at the end of the 18th - the second half of the 19th century, billiards became more and more accessible to the general public. It was no longer played only for entertainment, but also developed as a sports game. By this time in Russia there were already the first champions in billiard games. Among the adherents of sports billiards were state and military figures: Count G. Orlov, academician M. Lomonosov, generals I. Skobelev, A. Osterman-Tolstoy, D. Bibikov, Count I. Vorontsov-Dashkov, writer and first theorist of Russian billiards A. Leman and many others. Well-known figures of Russian literature and art were also fond of billiards: A. Pushkin, N. Gogol, N. Nekrasov, L. Tolstoy, I. Turgenev, A. Kuprin, F. Chaliapin, V. Mayakovsky and others. It was they who glorified in their work the magical power and attractiveness of billiards in Russia, Billiards could make anyone famous, regardless of rank and wealth. So, among the outstanding Russian players of that time are the porcelain magnate Gardner, and the student Markin with the Tyurei marker, to whom Nekrasov dedicated the beautiful verses "Govorun". Already at that time, especially in Moscow, ordinary people also competed in billiards.

Billiards. History in pictures.

A game of billiards.Drawn by Adriaen van de Venne .1620-1626
If you look closely, you can see that they play not with a cue, but with clubs, and on the table there is a croquet type gate.

Formerly attributed to Georg Daniel Heumann.1720-1740

End of the 19th century.

Putti deprive a bird of air in a vacuum experiment, one plays at billiards, another plays with magnetised keys, while outside a storm rages: representing physics. Etching by B. Picart, 1729, after himself.
1729 By: Bernard Picart

1674 illustration-The Billiard Table

Louis XIV 1638-1715 playing billiards with Philippe I (1640-1701) Duke of Orleans, the Count of Toulouse, the Duke of Vendome, Monsieur dArmagnac and Monsieur de Chamillard, 1694
Antoine Trouvain
1656-1700

Three gentlemen playing a billiard game with maces, c.1730
Date
circa 1730

It was originally played with two balls on a table with a hoop similar to a croquet wicket and an upright stick used as a target. In the eighteenth century, the hoop and target gradually disappeared, leaving only balls and pockets, which were most likely added in the late 1700s.

Billiards developed during the reign of Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Business people of that era became interested in playing billiards, and began to equip public halls for this game. The state was also interested in installing billiard tables in public places, because it brought income to the treasury thanks to taxes.

The Sons of Louis XIV Playing Billiards

Extremely fond of playing billiards Louis XIV. He prided himself on how well he handled the balls and how graceful he was while doing so. The king was considered a very good billiards player.

Two Venetian Noblemen Playing Billiards
Jan van Grevenbroeck
1731-1807

From Western Europe, the game of billiards gradually spread to more eastern countries, including Russia. And with the beginning of the times of colonization, billiards were widely distributed in the colony. However, not as fast as in Europe. For example, America was discovered by Columbus in 1492, and the spread of billiards in America dates back more than two hundred years from the date of the legendary discovery.

In the early 1800s billiard tables were lit with tray candles to keep the wax from getting on the table. Later they began to be placed on top. Then they were replaced by kerosene lamps, and in the 1860s by gas lighting.

A Game of Billiards, c.1720-26
Jean Baptiste Simeon Chardin

Formerly attributed to Georg Daniel Heumann
1720-1740(c)
A group of callot figures in a room playing billiard; man barbecueing a fish and root vegetables seated on the ground in the foreground to the right.

Philippe Meusnier (1655-1734)
Elegant Company Playing Billiards
oil on canvas

---------------------

Januarius Zick
Die Familie Remy
Year 1776

LANCRET, Nicholas
Billiard Players
Oil on panel, 32 x 27 cm
private collection

Jean Beraud (1849-1936)
La Partie De Billard
oil on panel

The Game of Billiards
Charles Edouard Boutibonne
(1816-1897)

Vincent van Gogh

Paul Gauguin

After Henry William Bunbury
Date
1780

After Robert Dighton
1775
A group of eight men (caricatured) round a billiard table.

Published by Hannah Humphrey
Date
1787

Print made by James Bretherton
Date
1781

Life in Paris / "Life" in a billiard Room, or Dick Wildfire & Squire Jenkins "au fait" (awake) to the Parisian Sharpers.
Print made by George Cruikshank
Date
1822

political billiards
Print made by William Heath
Date
1829

Billiards-A Double Carom
1874(1874)

Yuri Popkov. Billiards in Crimea.

The game of bowls is one of the first games of which there is historical information. Many researchers believe that it was ball games, whose homeland was Asia, that became the basis for the appearance billiards. It is believed that Chinese merchants brought a simple game of bowls to England during the Middle Ages. And already the British, having improved it, became the founders of billiards. At that time, the British played Pall-Mall, the essence of which was to move several balls around a compacted earthen area. Also, in favor of the fact that the world owes the game of billiards to England, says the origin of the word billiards from the English ball (ball) and yeard (stick). And even the great Shakespeare, in one of his plays, mentions that Cleopatra played billiards with her eunuch Mardyan. However, other experts refute these theories.

The emergence of billiards would be correctly attributed to the historical period when the balls began to be moved with the help of cue-like devices on a flat surface raised above the floor or the ground. Therefore, another version says that billiards originated in France, since the first mention of a billiard table was found in the inventory of King Louis XI , and dates back to 1470.

The first billiard players were the crowned persons and nobles of Western Europe. It was they who had access to an expensive billiard table and a large hall for it. There is historical evidence that in 1588, the imprisoned Queen of Scots, Mary Stuart, spent a lot of time playing billiards.

An important stage in the development of billiards is its distribution among other social strata of the population. Billiards received such development during the reign of the French rabbits Louis XIII and Louis XIV. Business people of that era became interested in playing billiards, and began to equip public halls for this game. The state was also interested in installing billiard tables in public places, because it brought income to the treasury thanks to taxes. So billiards walked across Europe with a confident step.

Extremely fond of playing billiards Louis XIV . He prided himself on how well he handled the balls and how graceful he was while doing so. The king was considered a very good billiards player, and his constant partner was Shamilar, who had the reputation of a very strong player. He purposely lost to the king, but sometimes he won. They say that it was thanks to billiards that Shamilar made a brilliant career - from a clerk to a minister of war.

From Western Europe game to billiards gradually spread to more eastern countries, including Russia. And with the beginning of the times of colonization, billiards were widely distributed in the colony. However, not as fast as in Europe. For example, America was discovered by Columbus in 1492, and the spread of billiards in America dates back more than two hundred years from the date of the legendary discovery.

Who really and in what country was the first to come up with billiards, may remain unknown. Yes, it probably doesn't matter too much. The important thing is that this wonderful, smart and gambling game is so loved by many today.

Who first came up with an interesting game "billiards"? In what year and where did the first wonderful table appear? and got the best answer

Answer from Vadim Begunenko[master]
Until now, it has not been possible to reliably establish the time of the appearance of billiards as a game. Today, only the fact is known that billiards, just like chess, appeared a very long time ago and its homeland is one of the countries of Asia. There is an assumption that this is India or China. Today, only one thing can be said with accuracy: various games with balls and balls were among the first invented by mankind.
In European countries - England, France - the first Asian billiards appeared in the XV-XVI centuries. But the games, which were organized according to the principle of modern billiards, were known to Europeans much earlier.
There is no consensus on the name of the game of billiards. John Wilk, an English researcher, noted that the original billiard game had the name "ball-yerds", composed of two words of ancient Saxon origin: "ball" (ball) and "yerd" (stick). Other researchers point out that the word "billiards" comes from the French word "bille", meaning "ball", or from the word "billart", meaning a wooden stick.
The most widespread in Europe are two versions of the origin of the game of billiards. Supporters of the first version cite as an argument Mary Stuart's letter to the Archbishop of Glasgow, written on the day of her execution on February 17, 1587. The dethroned Scottish queen and the unsuccessful pretender to the English throne mentions her pool table and asks to prepare a place for him in another room. By the way, earlier the table for the game was called billiards.
Supporters of the second version - the French - give completely different arguments, recalling the King of France, Louis XI (reigned from 1461 to 1483), who once ordered a billiard table to be installed in his apartment. Other authors attribute the invention of billiards to their compatriot Heinrich Deligne, who lived during the reign of King Charles IX (1560-1574), who himself, according to French historians, was a passionate fan of this game.
The first tables for playing billiards were not perfect: the sides of the tables were not elastic and therefore the balls did not bounce off them. The cues were very crude in shape, more like miniature batons, and hence it was impossible to spin the balls sideways with them. The base of the table, on which the balls were rolled, was uneven and unstable, and this led to the fact that the surface of the table became unusable very quickly, distorting the direction of movement of the balls. In general, we can say that the game of billiards in the distant past was very primitive.
In a later period, from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, the billiard table was gradually improved. Holes in the sides of the table for pocketing balls - pockets - were equipped with pockets made of a special mesh. Gradually, the number of such pockets decreased. The sides of the table began to be upholstered with wool, and later they began to be edged with rubber so that the balls bounce better.
With regard to the general design of the table, it was considered sufficient to have 6 pockets on the table. The billiard table began to be made more carefully, and both the boards and the sides began to be covered with cloth. Gradually, a short stick-hammer gave way to a long cue.

Answer from Yoman[guru]

The first billiard table (according to surviving documents) was made by craftsman Henri de Vinhem in 1469 for King Louis XI of France. This table looked like a modern billiard table: it had a stone base, a fence, it was covered with cloth. In Russia, A. Freiberg, a manufacturer and well-known billiard player, in 1850 began the production of billiard tables based on slate slabs (natural slate - ardesite (called "ardesia" in the billiard environment)), and in the 19th century there were 5 factories in Russia, which produced billiard tables called "Freiberg".

Chapter Two

« HISTORY OF BILLIARDS»

The genealogy of billiards stretches from the depths of times before our era.

It is impossible to establish the exact time of the appearance of the billiard game. It is only known that it, like chess, is of very ancient origin, and Asia is the birthplace of billiards; according to some - India, according to others - China. One thing can be said for sure: in general, ball games or balls were among the first invented by man.

The civilization of the "Heavenly Empire", being older than the European one, was the discoverer of gunpowder, compass and much more. But - according to the strange warehouse of the Chinese character - for the most part, these inventions seemed to freeze halfway and were rarely brought to perfection. So the "Chinese billiards" to our times has remained only a simple children's toy.

It must be assumed that in Europe the first "Chinese" billiards appeared in the XV-XVI centuries. However, games based on the principle of modern billiards were known here much earlier. For example, in the German folk game "Bafkespiel", popular in Germany in the Middle Ages, long tables with rough sides and recesses were used, where the player tried to drive the opponent's stone ball with a club.

In England, around the same time, the Pali-Mall game was widespread. The participants in this competition rolled several balls on a hard-packed earthen platform, trying to pass them through the gate according to certain rules. In the middle of the 15th century, many of these games turned from “garden” games into “room games”.

Two versions of the emergence of billiards in Europe are most widespread. According to one - the pioneers here are the British, on the other - the French. Supporters of the first version cite the usually preserved letter of Mary Stuart to the Archbishop of Glasgow, written on the day of her execution on February 17, 1587. The queen of Scotland, deprived of her throne, and the unsuccessful contender for the English throne, mentions her billiards and asks to prepare a place for him in another room.

The French do not agree with the primacy of the British. They remember the King of France (1461-83) Louis XI, who once ordered a billiard table installed in his apartment. Other authors attribute the invention of billiards to their compatriot Heinrich Deligne, who lived during the reign of King Charles IX (1560-74), who himself, according to French historians, was a passionate fan of this game. For example, it is reported that, while playing billiards on the famous St. Bartholomew's night of August 24, 1572, he put down his cue, grabbed an arquebus and began to shoot directly from the windows of the palace at the fleeing Huguenots.

Later, under Louis XIII, a billiard room was arranged in the Fontainebleau Palace, which has survived to this day. In those days, the game was played on small tables, in which up to 10 pockets were made. In the middle part of the table rose a small gate made of iron or whalebone, through which the balls were supposed to pass, and a small figure (“king”). The players were armed with short cues, which looked more like clubs or hammer sticks. Each member of the party sought to send the “king” into the pocket with his “own” ball through the gate.

In general, the first billiard tables were imperfect: the sides were not elastic and, therefore, the balls were not reflected from them; with rough cue sticks it was impossible to give the ball a lateral rotation; the board on which the balls rolled was not sufficiently level and firm. Because of this, playing billiards in those early years was very primitive.

In the future, starting from the end of the 16th century, there was an improvement in billiards. Holes-pockets in the sides are equipped with mesh pockets, and their number is consistently reduced. The boards of the table learned to be lined with wool, and later edging with rubber to better reflect the balls. In this regard, it was considered sufficient to have 6 pockets on the table. The billiard table began to be made more carefully, and both the boards and the sides began to be covered with cloth. Gradually, a short stick-hammer gave way to a long cue.

The game took on a different character. Interest in her has increased dramatically. For example, at the beginning of the 17th century, among the British of the middle and upper strata of society, billiards became so fashionable that there was no large city where both men and the fairer sex did not roll balls. In the literature of that time there are references to the fact that ladies and girls in the heat of passion "spent whole days with a cue in their hands."

The owners of billiards at first looked with alarm at the appearance of long cues and for a long time did not want to allow playing with them for fear of spoiling the cloth. But these fears were not justified. There were players who acted so skillfully with a cue that their game not only aroused admiration from others, but also became the subject of universal imitation.

In France, under King Louis XIV, billiards among the nobility, as well as in England, was very fashionable. The illustrious monarch also paid tribute to him. An excellent game of billiards could gain access to the royal court. The constant partner of Louis XIV was a certain Shamilar. This player, who enjoyed the fame of the strongest known player, at first deliberately lost several games to the king, of course not in a row, but he was pleased and claimed that, not being a "billiards professor", he still owns a cue no worse than the best player in the world. The pleasure brought by Shamillar's art was rewarded. He managed to make a fast career. First, he was promoted from a clerk to an adviser to the Parlement of Paris, then he became the controller of public finances, and in 1707 Chamillard became minister of war.

In the 17th century, billiards gained wide popularity in Germany and other European countries. The improvement of the billiard table led to a change in its shape. At first square, then hexagonal, octagonal, and even round, it eventually acquires a firmly established modern quadrangular shape.

At first square, then hexagonal, octagonal, and even round, it eventually acquires a firmly established modern quadrangular shape.

The second asserts a strict, regardless of the size of the billiards, proportionality: the length of the table is always twice its width.

It turned out that such an arrangement, which includes, as it were, two squares, has a number of significant advantages over other forms:

It is possible to place 6 pockets at an equal distance from each other, which is most advisable, since any other number of them too simplifies or, conversely, complicates the game;
- during the game it is easy to get any ball located in the middle part of the table from the long boards;
- balls reflected from the sides are reduced to the simplest four types of impacts (from one, two, three and four sides);
- along with playing balls into pockets, wagering is widely used;
- when laying the balls, there is room for strikes through the entire billiards.

The size of the billiard tables has also changed. Experience has shown that their large size contributes to an interesting game.

It should be especially noted that it was in Russia, where billiards developed autonomously, that its own, domestic type of pocket billiards was eventually developed. Back in the 30s and 40s of the century before last, the inventory was distinguished by a great variety and disproportionate details. There were balls that were much smaller in diameter compared to the width of the pockets; the sides were either very low or too high, on many tables the pockets had a long mouth, as a result of which not perfectly accurately fired balls did not repel from the pockets, but often got stuck in them. When competing on such tables, the chances of bad and good players were equalized and the struggle between them lost interest.

It should be especially noted that it was in Russia, where billiards developed autonomously, that its own, domestic type of pocket billiards was eventually developed.

Only in 1850, a good player and manager of a billiard factory in St. Petersburg, A. Freiberg, created a sample of Russian six-hole billiards that met the necessary requirements:

For a certain complication of the game, all balls should be placed only with accurate hits, which means that the width of the pockets should only be a few millimeters greater than the diameter of the balls;
- the ball along the board should not fall into the middle pocket;
- all pockets should have short mouths so that the balls get stuck in them less and it is possible to play the side balls into the corner pockets.

Along with the shape of the table, the design of the pockets, the shape of the protrusion of the sides in the part that is covered with rubber was also improved. On the first pocket billiards, this protrusion along its entire height was like a continuous vertical wall.

At the same time, the ball had many points of contact with rubber, which is why it was reflected in an unpredictable direction, and it was technically difficult to make a perfect board.

Later, the Moscow billiard masters Shultz and Briggen proposed a low board and limited it to an inclined plane with a pointed rubber rounding. So it was more convenient for the game. But the sharpness of the rounding and the fact that the point of contact of the ball with the rubber was against its center and even somewhat lower were fraught with surprises: with a strong blow, the ball often jumped up and then fell to the surface of the table, quickly losing the power of movement given to it.

a) Old board with a flat rubber ledge
b) Low board billiards fabr. Schultz.
c) Normal board.

In the future, through the efforts of many billiard specialists, and especially A. Freiberg, the so-called "normal" board was developed. It corresponds to a moderate rounding of the rubber and a height that ensures that the ball touches at a point slightly above its center (Fig. c). This shape of the sides is preserved to this day.

The first rules of the billiard game were published in 1674 in the city of Lyon by the Frenchman Etienne Loison. His interpretation of various game moments was complex and not clear enough. But already in these first rules, their author emphasized that the game of billiards is not only “pleasant for the mind”, but also good for health. In 1758, Johann Albert Euler, the eldest son of the famous geometer Leonhard Euler, shared his curious observations on the game of billiards with the public. He published the results of his research under the title "Research on the motion of a ball in a horizontal plane" in the collection of the Berlin Academy.

There are several opinions about the name of the game itself. The English author John Wilk, for example, noted that originally the billiard game had the name bal-yerds, composed of the ancient Saxon words: bal (ball) and yerds (stick).

Other sources mention that the word "billiards" comes from the French. bille (ball). Until the end of the 20s of the 19th century, cue actions were not distinguished by intricacy. Their “range” was limited to a simple blow to the center of the ball, through which it was impossible to give the cue ball an arbitrary direction. The reason for this was a cavity filled with plaster in the thin end of the cue. When you try to hit with such a blotch at any point of the ball, except for the center, there was a failure or, as it is called, “kiks”. In addition, each player had several cues near him, which he regularly dipped in liquid plaster. The tables were dirty and untidy. Plaster cues often tore cloth.

The inventor of such a gypsum cue, not bad for its time, is considered to be a French officer, Major Duga. At the billiard table, he was invincible for many years. But the impossibility of having good control over "their" ball due to the imperfection of the cue prompted players to look for ways to improve this game tool.

In 1827, the French billiards virtuoso Mengo invented the round leather cue stick. This seemingly simple innovation produced a kind of revolution. When playing with a plaster cue, only a mechanical skill was required - after hitting the center, the ball rolled strictly in a straight line. Now, with the help of a leather sticker, its inventor began to demonstrate incomparably more complex strokes: the ball rotated and moved along a curved trajectory, suddenly stopped by itself and rolled back, jumped over other balls, etc. Such a game aroused surprise and admiration in everyone around .

The next turning point in the development of billiards was the appearance of American rubber boards, thanks to which the game became more complicated, and interest in it increased. The balls were well reflected by the sides, which immediately affected the entertainment and entertainment of the game.

In Russia, billiards appeared at the beginning of the 16th century under Peter 1. Being abroad, in Holland, and having become acquainted with this game, Peter ordered to make billiards for himself, which became his favorite pastime. According to another version, he was presented with a (carom, hollow) billiard table.

Following the example of the king, his entourage also began to start billiard tables. After some time, the game quickly spread to noble estates, clubs, palaces of the nobility.

In Russia, from the very beginning, the development of billiards went autonomously. It was in Moscow and St. Petersburg that not only strict tables appeared, on which balls could only be placed with accurate blows, but also new interesting games.

In the 30s of the 19th century, the “Small Russian Pyramid” was invented in Russia, which immediately gained great popularity. This game is still a billiards classic. The visibility of the struggle and the variety of blows can not leave anyone indifferent.

Among the outstanding players of the past, a special place is occupied by the Russian writer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Anatoly Ivanovich Leman.

It is to him that the merit of creating the best work for that time called "Theory of the billiard game" belongs.

Considering billiards as a purely sporting activity, Leman notes that this game develops a person's character. He had great sympathy for the real masters of billiards and claimed that "an experienced, good master of the game is a philosopher, a stoic and a connoisseur of the human heart."

Carom games were developed in France. The first mention of a three-ball carom party was in 1775: 2 white and one red balls (as it is now). If carom was played at first on pocket tables, then with the improvement of cues and stickers that allowed unimaginable hits (in 1827, the Frenchman Mengo offered his cue and a leather sticker), the pockets on the tables disappeared. The ball could be launched along any trajectory. Side impacts (les effets) "French" gained great importance

Snooker was invented in India in 1875.

The game turned out to be more difficult than the famous "American" and "pyramid". Arouses interest more in the complex movements of the balls than in winning.

Previously, snookers were called first-year cadets who had no worldly experience. And then one day in the game, one of the officers, Neville Chamberlain, called this word his partner, who found himself in a difficult situation and did not know how to get out of it. He had to play a colored ball, which was closed by others. This position in billiards and began to be called "snooker".

Then this game moved to England, but did not become popular until 1920, when Joe Davis appeared. He introduced cue ball control and ball scoring, which made the game much more difficult. In addition to hitting the balls into the pocket, now it was necessary to keep an eye on the cue ball.

Snooker became especially popular in the 60s. Color television played a big role in this and two players - Ray Reardon and John Spencer, who arranged demonstration games, traveling around England. Then "snooker" developed as a sport. Competitions began to be held, expensive prizes were established for the winners, which attracted a new generation of players. In 1980-1981, Steve Davies became the first British champion. He improved the game and after a while he won the world championship. This athlete is still considered one of the strongest players.

Soon the Japanese, Chinese, Americans began to play snooker. New talents appeared - John Perot, Neil Foulds, Stephen Hendry.

In 1973, the International Organization of Billiards and Snooker was created. Since 1985, it has become the governing body. Snooker is played on the same table as billiards, with only 22 balls - 15 red, 6 colored and 1 white cue ball. On the same table, snooker can be played not only by two, but also by several players. The principle of hit order is simple: if the hit does not bring winning points, the next player hits.

The balls are colored, they are evaluated depending on the color:
fifteen red balls - one point each, one yellow - 2 points each, one green - 3 points, one brown - 4 points, one blue - 5 points, one pink - 6 points, one black - 7 points.

A room specially equipped for playing on billiards, - billiard room.

India or China is considered the birthplace of the billiard game.

History

Currently, slabs for billiard tables are made from the following materials:

• Ardesia (natural slate)
• Sintegran (short for "synthetic granite" - marble or granite chips, bonded with synthetic hardeners)
• MDF ((Medium Density Fiberboards) - medium density fibreboard.)
• LDSP (laminated chipboard)
• Chipboard (chipboard)

Billiards began its history as a game for the privileged. Gradually, it becomes more and more popular, but the bulkiness of the main equipment (billiard table) prevents the spread of billiards among the people as a hobby.

Billiards in science

For the first time, Gaspar Gustav Coriolis spoke about the mathematical basis of the billiard game in his book "Théorie mathématique du jeu de billard" (Russian translation: "Mathematical theory of the phenomena of the billiard game") in 1835. He used elements of probability theory, limit theory, and general analysis in his work. However (according to Leman) the book did not arouse much interest among contemporaries: neither mathematicians nor billiard players.

More than a hundred and fifty years have passed, and mathematical billiards has developed into its own theory, giving rise to several side ones. "Theory of billiards" today is an integral part of the ergodic theory and the theory of dynamical systems, has the most important application in physics. Mathematician Galperin created a method for determining the number $\backslash ;\backslash pi$ with billiards. Much closer to the general educated reader are the results of the studies of the mathematicians Steinhaus, Alhazen, and Gardner. [ clarify]

Main varieties

• Carom (French billiards)
• Russian billiards
• Snooker (English billiards (not to be confused with the game of the same name)
• Pool (American billiards)
• Kaisa (Carolina) (Finnish billiards)
• Novus (Baltic billiards)

In cinema

• The history of one billiard team
• Turn the river

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Notes

Literature

• Galperin G., Stepin A. Periodic motions of a billiard ball // Kvant magazine. - 1989. - No. 3.
• Zhilin L.. - M .: Eksmo, 2011. - ISBN 978-5-699-46506-4.
• Coriolis G. Mathematical theory of billiard game phenomena / transl. from French - M., 1956
• "Science and Life", 1966, No. 2, 3, 4, 6, 11.
• // Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: in 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional). - St. Petersburg. , 1890-1907.
• // Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language: in 4 volumes / ed. V. I. Dal. - 2nd ed. - St. Petersburg. : Printing house M. O. Wolfa, 1880-1882.

Links

• - official site.

An excerpt characterizing billiards

Pierre was received in a brand new living room, in which it was impossible to sit down anywhere without violating symmetry, cleanliness and order, and therefore it was very understandable and not strange that Berg generously offered to destroy the symmetry of an armchair or sofa for a dear guest, and apparently being himself in in this regard, in painful indecision, offered a solution to this issue to the choice of the guest. Pierre upset the symmetry by pulling out a chair for himself, and immediately Berg and Vera began the evening, interrupting one another and entertaining the guest.
Vera, deciding in her mind that Pierre should be occupied with a conversation about the French embassy, ​​immediately began this conversation. Berg, deciding that a man's conversation was also necessary, interrupted his wife's speech, touching on the question of the war with Austria and involuntarily jumped from the general conversation to personal considerations about the proposals that were made to him to participate in the Austrian campaign, and about the reasons why he did not accept them. Despite the fact that the conversation was very awkward, and that Vera was angry at the interference of the male element, both spouses felt with pleasure that, despite the fact that there was only one guest, the evening started very well, and that the evening was like two drops of water are like any other evening with conversations, tea and candles lit.
Boris, Berg's old comrade, soon arrived. He treated Berg and Vera with a certain tinge of superiority and patronage. A lady came for Boris with a colonel, then the general himself, then the Rostovs, and the evening was completely, undoubtedly, similar to all evenings. Berg and Vera could not help smiling at the sight of this movement around the living room, at the sound of this incoherent conversation, the rustling of dresses and bows. Everything was, like everyone else, the general was especially similar, praising the apartment, patting Berg on the shoulder, and with paternal arbitrariness ordered the setting up of the Boston table. The general sat down with Count Ilya Andreich, as if he were the most distinguished guest after himself. Old men with old men, young with young, the hostess at the tea table, on which were exactly the same cookies in a silver basket that the Panins had at the evening, everything was exactly the same as the others.

Pierre, as one of the most honored guests, was to sit in Boston with Ilya Andreevich, a general and a colonel. Pierre had to sit opposite Natasha at the Boston table, and the strange change that had taken place in her since the day of the ball struck him. Natasha was silent, and not only was she not as good as she was at the ball, but she would be bad if she did not have such a meek and indifferent look to everything.
"What with her?" thought Pierre, looking at her. She was sitting next to her sister at the tea table and reluctantly, without looking at him, answered something to Boris, who had sat down next to her. Departing the whole suit and taking five bribes to the pleasure of his partner, Pierre, who heard the greetings and the sound of someone's steps entering the room during the collection of bribes, looked at her again.
"What happened to her?" even more surprised he said to himself.
Prince Andrei, with a thrifty tender expression, stood before her and said something to her. She, raising her head, blushing and apparently trying to hold her breath, looked at him. And the bright light of some kind of inner, previously extinguished fire, again burned in her. She has completely changed. From the bad girl she again became the same as she was at the ball.
Prince Andrei went up to Pierre and Pierre noticed a new, youthful expression in the face of his friend.
Pierre changed seats several times during the game, now with his back, then facing Natasha, and for the entire duration of 6 roberts he made observations of her and his friend.
“Something very important is happening between them,” thought Pierre, and a joyful and at the same time bitter feeling made him worry and forget about the game.
After 6 robers, the general got up, saying that it was impossible to play like that, and Pierre got his freedom. Natasha was talking to Sonya and Boris in one direction, Vera was talking about something with a thin smile with Prince Andrei. Pierre went up to his friend and, asking if what was being said was a secret, sat down beside them. Vera, noticing Prince Andrei's attention to Natasha, found that at the evening, at a real evening, it was necessary that there be subtle hints of feelings, and seizing the time when Prince Andrei was alone, she began a conversation with him about feelings in general and about her sister . With such an intelligent (as she considered Prince Andrei) guest, she needed to apply her diplomatic skills to the matter.
When Pierre approached them, he noticed that Vera was in the self-satisfied enthusiasm of the conversation, Prince Andrei (which rarely happened to him) seemed embarrassed.
- What do you think? Vera said with a thin smile. - You, prince, are so insightful and understand the character of people at once. What do you think of Natalie, can she be constant in her affections, can she, like other women (Vera understood herself), love a person once and remain faithful to him forever? This is what I consider true love. What do you think, prince?
“I know your sister too little,” answered Prince Andrei with a mocking smile, under which he wanted to hide his embarrassment, “to solve such a delicate question; and then I noticed that the less a woman likes, the more constant she is, ”he added and looked at Pierre, who had approached them at that time.
- Yes, it's true, prince; in our time, Vera continued (referring to our time, as limited people generally like to mention, believing that they have found and appreciated the features of our time and that the properties of people change with time), in our time the girl has so much freedom that le plaisir d "etre courtisee [the pleasure of having fans] often drowns out the true feeling in her. Et Nathalie, il faut l" avouer, y est tres sensible. [And Natalya, it must be confessed, is very sensitive to this.] The return to Natalya again made Prince Andrei frown unpleasantly; he wanted to get up, but Vera continued with an even more refined smile.
“I don’t think anyone was as courtisee [object of courtship] as she was,” Vera said; - but never, until very recently, did she seriously like anyone. You know, count, - she turned to Pierre, - even our dear cousin Boris, who was, entre nous [between us], very, very dans le pays du tendre ... [in the land of tenderness ...]
Prince Andrei frowned silently.
Are you friends with Boris? Vera told him.
- Yes, I know him…
- Did he tell you right about his childhood love for Natasha?
Was there childhood love? - suddenly suddenly blushing, asked Prince Andrei.
- Yes. Vous savez entre cousin et cousine cette intimate mene quelquefois a l "amour: le cousinage est un dangereux voisinage, N" est ce pas? [You know, between cousin and sister, this closeness sometimes leads to love. Such kinship is a dangerous neighborhood. Is not it?]
“Oh, without a doubt,” said Prince Andrei, and suddenly, unnaturally animated, he began to joke with Pierre about how careful he should be in his treatment of his 50-year-old Moscow cousins, and in the middle of a joking conversation, he got up and, taking under the arm of Pierre, took him aside.
- Well? - said Pierre, looking with surprise at the strange animation of his friend and noticing the look that he threw at Natasha getting up.
“I need, I need to talk to you,” said Prince Andrei. - You know our women's gloves (he talked about those Masonic gloves that were given to the newly elected brother to present to his beloved woman). - I ... But no, I'll talk to you later ... - And with a strange gleam in his eyes and restlessness in his movements, Prince Andrei went up to Natasha and sat down beside her. Pierre saw how Prince Andrei asked her something, and she, flushing, answered him.